1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to electronic mail. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to controlling delivery of email attachments.
2. Background Information
Email attachments can quickly and unnecessarily fill our inboxes, limiting our productivity by locking our systems, and increasing the amount of time spent sorting and filing. However, attachments are often necessary. Typically, email applications require sending an attachment to either all or none of the recipients. Alternatively, the sender must send separate email messages: some with attachments, some without attachments.
Although systems exist for selectively controlling the destination of attachments, known systems are too cumbersome. For example, U.S. patent application publication No. 2003/0225837 to DELIA et al. describes a process in which a message sender can select for each attachment, the recipients of the attachment. Such a process requires the sender to enumerate the recipients of each and every attachment. If multiple attachments exist, the process is overly time consuming. Moreover, the DELIA et al. system does not provide a display that allows the sender to instantly recognize who is receiving what attachment.
There is a need for addressing the issues identified above with a more user friendly selective attachment delivery system.